Temporal Anomaly in the Hyuuga Clan
by FluxBlade
Summary: After an attack by team Taka finished the job that Akatsuki started, Naruto designs a seal to send someone back in time, his trusted ANBU captain, Neji. However, messing with time does not always lead to better results.
1. Back to the Past and Two Jutsu

Disclaimer: Checks location, checks number of Japanese words I know the definition of, about a hundred, well, it looks like I don't know own Naruto. Just writing stories in the universe.

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The ANBU ninja walked up to the young man who was wearing his long, orange cloak and was crouched over, painting symbols on the ground. He bowed and stood at the ready, scanning the area for others. Though hidden by the mask, his eyes could see in almost 360 degrees around him. _The only way someone would come here would be to see if the rumors were true, but a year should have been enough time. _ It was worse than a graveyard, except for the broken remnants of the mountain, which was missing the six faces that had once adorned it. Now it was the only reminder that this had once been the location of the most powerful hidden village. Who would have thought that one of Konoha's most failed students would become its greatest defender? And that one of its geniuses from one of the most respected clan would become its destroyer? Naruto carefully finished the last symbol, the black ink starting to dry.

"Well, the seals are ready, now, are you, Neji?" He grinned at his subordinate.

"Rokudaime, are you sure that you do not wish to go instead?" He offered while still observing the area.

"I can't channel the seals properly and send myself back. Besides most of my important techniques require me to sign the scroll or regain the chakra control for them. And if I start showing signs of Hokage competency, Kakashi will be very suspicious. Though you do know the handseals for Kage Bushin, right?" Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head as he guessed that his last ANBU captain glared through the mask. The Rokudaime looked away to what was left of his Konoha, what Pain did was horrific enough, but Sasuke's attack was worse.

He sighed before continuing, "The biggest problem is the fact I'm going to slip up, and I won't be able to hide my happiness at seeing places that have been there since they were first built, not actually destroyed a year ago."

"You mean Ichiraku Ramen, right?" The captain smirked, Naruto grinned as he patted him on the shoulder. Even after becoming Hokage, he would visit his favorite place in Konoha at least twice a week, along with dragging his favorite advisors. He looked around the area, frowning, before staring back at his companion.

"One last order from your Hokage, you can't kill him."

"Yes, Hokage." Neji shook his head as he walked into the middle of the seals. The order was not surprising, he had already been ordered not to maim, cripple, arrest, or otherwise act harmfully against him without Sasuke actually doing something deserving of the action. Naruto knelt as he brought his hands down to the outside of seals. While his father had been a seal master, Naruto had two advantages over him, a larger chakra capacity, and the ability to have over 1000 kage bushin working together over the last year. Neji deactivated his Byakugan, knowing if anyone came after them, he could not do anything. Naruto placed his hands over one of the seals. The seals started to glow green as he started to pour chakra into it, the color slowly filling out to all the symbols. He looked up, smiling, ignoring the pain that was coursing through his body. He had not told Neji, but what did it matter, if the theory was right, this time it would be different, and if it was wrong, then the last two ninja that anyone could easily identify as from Konoha would be gone. Besides, he would beat the fox, its last act would be to help make its container's life better, what perfect revenge.

"Have a bowl of ramen for me, okay?" Chakra jumped from the seals and blasted into the center, Naruto's eyes started to water as he continued, "And, lastly, thank you for everything, Neji." The seal erupted as the chakra that Naruto was pouring into the seal tapered off as he collapsed onto the ground. Neji started to feel as though he was being pulled from his body. All his senses stopped working, leaving him with only his thoughts before losing consciousness.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A collision of memories awoke Neji from his sleep, as he kept his eyes closed while working to stop the torrent of memories from overloading his ability to stay conscious. _Is this what Naruto goes through each time a kage bushin is dispelled? No wonder he hated having them do paper work._ The swirling memories finally came to a rest, or at least, he reached the eye of the storm. He slowly opened his eyes as his other senses flooded into his mind, though unlike the slamming of memories, the quiet and bed were quite comfortable. He quietly activated his Byakugan, and if the fact that the sun had barely started to rise was not enough of an indicator, the two other branch members that he saw were asleep in the rooms next to his identified the time of day. Accepting the inevitable, he stood up and gingerly checked to make sure his coordination was not hampered. He could not afford a week to regain his abilities.

The breath he held escaped as his feet moved properly. At least his subconscious did not think of him as an adult. He walked silently over to the mirror that had been put into all the branch members' rooms. And he sighed upon seeing the mark that had once been removed. It had been three years since had to see the foul thing, he shuddered remembering how easy it was for Hiashi to kill him. The object that had trapped him into believing in such a depressing fate. Though as he once commented when Naruto had complained that perhaps he shouldn't have been Rokudaime, that it had been his fate, after all the son of the most legendary ninja in Leaf had to be Hokage. He changed his clothes and made sure nothing was out of place. Deactivating his Byakugan, he headed toward the branch house dining area, knowing he needed to be ready to escort Hinata afterwards. As he made it there, he joined the four other branch members already eating.

"Neji, who do you think your teammates will be?" Michi asked quietly. The Hyuugas knew how the teams were roughly picked, though Iruka had occasionally mixed the teams up. Though the Konohameru Corps had not started at the academy yet. It was the first time that the worst in the graduation exam was not paired with the best, or rather, will be.

"Depends if how cruelly fate wishes to be to me," Neji replies with his typical sneer in his voice. "The worst student, and probably someone with long range capabilities." As he continued eating, he mentally went back over what he would need for the graduation exam. While the other four talked knowingly about how Neji was going to be the best of his year, he was not so sure. He ran over what he remembered of the test, and if it was not for his control, would have started to grimace. It had been long enough that he did not remember the signs for the Bushin. And when he tried to remember it, the Kage Bushin would cycle through instead. He had to finish quickly and then find time to sneak a look at a book. At least he could remember the Henge's handseals. _Forget about Danzo, Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and Sasuke, it will not matter if I mess up what team I am on._ After finishing, he left the dishes for two branch members who normally had to clean up.

He arrived at the front gate with about five minutes to spare, ignoring the fact that he knew that Hiashi would want to see him. It would be easy for him to tell his uncle that he did not want to appear in front of him until he knew he passed. Except for the two guards that were about to be relieved, no one else was nearby. The entrance to the clan's property was pristine, the grass on both sides perfectly cut, the dirt path was clear of any holes. He smirked at how unlike the state of the Hyuuga clan was compared to the well kept grounds. Hearing the scuffling of feet coming from the main branch house, he turned and nearly lost his grip on his mask. He had remembered how bad Hinata's confidence was, but he had to remind himself that he was almost as bad as Hiashi was in damaging her mental state. Actually he was worse, since his anger had been completely misplaced.

He waited quietly for her to speak whatever Hiashi had told her. "B-brother N-neji, Father was disappointed that you d-did not show up this morning." She was staring at the ground, as if it was her fault, no it was because she was afraid that he would verbally lash out at her.

"Come on, Lady Hinata, I do not wish to be late for my graduation exam." _I have my first priority, the sooner I can help Hinata, the much better my life gets. Besides I might be able to use her to help Naruto as well. I have about 1 year and 3 months until the Chuunin Exams, should be enough time to help her. _He had not been paying attention to the path, which he had walked enough as a child, and since the academy was on the way to where the Hokage's Office, it was not much a change.

Realizing he might not have time to check a book at school on the Bushin, he turns to Hinata and commands, "Hinata, show me the handseals for the Henge Justu." She hunches up and starts to push her index fingers together before hesitantly completing them. "Now, show me the handsigns for the Bushin Justu." As she had before she hesitantly displayed the seals to him. Neji smiled, sure if she took the test early, she would have been close to the bottom of his class, but she would have passed. "Hinata, if you take the exam this year, you would pass." He muttered quietly so only she could hear. He frowned upon her reaction, as if he had just slapped her. He sighed as they continued on and realizing that he had little time left before reaching the academy. "Hinata, I am sorry for blaming you for something you had no control over. If I was you, I would not take the test, since Naruto will not pass this year." He quickly walked on, leaving Hinata standing there blushing. He also did not want to get into an argument over the ability of her crush. A couple of the kunoichi in training in his class attempted to engage him in conversation as they walked to their classroom. However, Neji was concentrating on making sure he will be able create enough clones. Upon reaching the seats in the back, Neji quickly cycled through the two techniques, his hands hidden by the desk, without putting chakra into them. Iruka's yell silencing the class was a welcome relief, as Neji noticed Lee sitting in front and Tenten had taken a seat in the middle of class. He smirked at the mention of the written exam. Under Iruka's watchful gaze, Neji's only problem was almost writing Gaara's name for the question, "Who is the current Kazekage?" After completing the written section, Iruka had them next complete the two justus, as Neji waited patiently in line, his nervousness started to eat at him. If he somehow ended up not on Lee's team, he would most likely end up with Kakashi as his jounin sensei. Sure he could easily pass the bell test, but it was not something he wanted to experience. Besides he needed to be on Gai's team to stop Lee from turning into a Gai clone. The work ethic was fine, but Konoha did not need another green beast. Also, he wanted to be with his future friends, not people who should not be genin. Most of his classmates were not ready.

"Neji Hyuuga, your turn." Iruka's instruction pulled Neji to walk forward as he concentrated before releasing the chakra needed as he preformed Henge. He stayed calm to make sure the technique did not waver. "That's enough." Neji tried not to show relief at finishing the first one. If he had told his ANBU unit that the future hinged on how well he performed the Bushin Justu, all three, Kitsune, Panda, and Wolf, would have been on the ground laughing. The one time Wolf wondered why the Bushin Justu was necessary at the academy came back to him. Neji remembered hearing Iruka explaining to the Rokudaime that it was more a test of chakra control and genin might actually be on missions where the enemy, such as bandits, probably would not notice the different between illusion and the real person. He idly wondered if he had problems with waiting for the test to get over the first time he took this test. Did he look over his classmates and determine their fate? Though he would have been right about more than half the class, he had to have been wrong about Lee. No one in his class would ever believe that he would become the best Jounin sensei of this generation. "Neji, it's your turn." Calmly walking into the other room, he stood before Iruka and his assistant that he did not remember.

"Bushin no Justu." He felt the chakra discharge as three clones appeared, while perfect copies, he knew that most academy students could create that many.

"Congratulations, Neji, you pass." Both of the teachers smiled at him, he tried to return a smirk, but it did not feel right. He took his headband, and after removing the cloth over his curse seal, he tied the protector over it as he walked out. _The Hokage and I should have compromised more, I should have come back tomorrow. Then I would not have to worry about what team I am on._ The only outward sign of his worry was his occasional glances at the door he left by. Looking around he was surprised to see one of the branch members there, Kazuki, who became the head of the branch families after Hizashi died. He nodded at Neji before calmly stating,

"You are the number one rookie, correct?" Neji just smirked, Lee's cheering giving him an opportunity to avoid giving away his nervousness.

"And now fate will give me him as a teammate, since I will be needed to show him the truth about fate." Neji replied smugly.

"Your Honored Uncle wishes to see you once you return to the estate."

"I will return upon escorting Lady Hinata from academy." Kazuki eyes lowered for a second, signaling to Neji that he built more time to prepare himself before having to face the man. He could not let the fact he wanted to strangle Hiashi for his dying wish affect him. Especially since he could not for certain claim being rookie of the year. He followed Kazuki just long enough for his fan girls to give up chase when he headed through town. He made sure not to run into anyone, as it would not do for the genius of the Hyuuga to run into someone. He occasionally would activate his Byakugan, to work on increasing his range of vision. Though if they fight the sound five again, he probably should fight someone else besides Kidomaru. _However, the first person to deal with is Danzo. The faster that the leader of Root is stopped the better life will be. And less problems for the Rokudaime. But how to expose him, he will be on guard if I start to look around, besides how would I know about Root? Since the snakes have not knocked out the walls yet, perhaps he will still be using that place for his meetings. Which will have at least four Anbu Root members watching it._

Realizing he had stopped, he looked up, and nearly grimaced. He had been spending too much time with Naruto. He wanted to quickly walk away, since he did not want news of him eating here to reach Hiashi. The two people sitting at the stand, Naruto and the Sandaime, stopped him from leaving.

"Welcome, I'm honored to have a Hyuuga to stop by," Teuchi warmly greeted him. Not wanting to get on the bad side of the owner of the restaurant he might have to spend plenty of time at, Neji nodded as he sat down.

"Congratulations on passing Neji." The sandaime smiled at him. From what Neji remembered of him, the Hokage always disliked the seal that the Hyuuga used. _This time, if I succeed, you will get to see start of the end of the cursed seal._

"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Neji looked back to the menu, pretending to look over it.

"Well, I'm sorry, Naruto, but I must head back to the tower. Teuchi, put his meal on my tab." The sandaime quickly removed himself from the stand. Neji quickly put in an order, at least it was a good meal. This place had explained why Naruto worshipped ramen, since very few places could match the taste of Ayame's cooking.

"Thanks old man!" Neji winced upon Naruto's shout, he expected him to be slightly less happy after failing the exam. "Hey, you just graduated, what's your name? Mine's Naruto Uzimaki, future hokage."

"Neji Hyuuga, pleased to meet you-"

"Even though I failed for the second time, I will pass next year. Stupid Bushin no Justu." Naruto muttered to himself, which was easily heard by both Neji and Teuchi as the owner placed down Neji's order. However, it was not just Bushin no Justu that caused him to fail, his last time was someone giving Naruto higher grades, after seeing what his scores should have been, Naruto apologized to Iruka for complaining about his toughness on the testing.

"Perhaps you put too much chakra into the Justus."

"What's chakra?" Neji brought his hands to his face, he had been warned, but how could this boy become Hokage? "I bet I have more than chakra than anyone, including Sasuke!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air as if he completed an important task. After finishing the delicious, but very unhealthy food, Neji paid for it as he prepared to head back to the academy. "Hey, Neji, how strong are you?" Naruto blurted out.

"Strong. Thank you for the food." The way back to the academy was without worry, Neji was expecting Naruto to follow and try to prank, but then again, he usually only got those that he felt deserved it.

Hinata walked out and upon seeing Neji, started to push her fingers together. "C-

congratulations on passing, Brother Neji."

"Thank you, Hinata. I believe that you will do well next year when you graduate." Hinata stared at her cousin, stopping in the middle of the road. "Hinata, we must go, we do not want to make your father wait longer."

"S-sorry, brother." She stared at the ground as she quickly joined Neji onto the way to the main house. Neji did not continue his practice with the Byakugan, calming himself, trying not to think about Hinata's death. After all, it was one of the worst days of his life, and at the same time, one of the best.

"H-how well did you do, brother?"

"I do not know, but I will know when we are split into teams." He smiled at her.

"Why, did N-Naruto pass?" Hinata questioned, she started to look to her upper left.

"No, a boy in my class named Rock Lee passed and he was the worst in the class." He replied calmly. Hinata smiled as she blushed, she was still easy to read as book.

"Lady Hinata, Neji, Lord Hiashi is waiting for you in his office." The guard announced upon their arrival. Neji nodded before following Hinata, trying not to rush her as her pace slowed.

Upon reaching Hiashi's office, Hinata lightly tapped on the door, and once hearing Hiashi's command of, "Enter." they both walked in. "Hinata, how did your end of year exams go?" Hinata quickly looked at the floor, not wanting to stutter in front of her father. "You did not embarrass the clan by failing did you, Hinata?" She shook her head in response. "You were the best kuniochi in your year correct?" He wondered as though he expected otherwise. Though he at least he let her lose to Sasuke without losing honor. Hinata just shook her head. "And Neji, please tell me you at least honored the name Hyuuga?"

"I believe so, Honored Uncle."

"But, you do not know?" Hiashi glared at his nephew, he had not expected him to cause him grief today.

"Iruka seemed worried about something, I wished not to disturb him about the obvious. Besides I will have proof tomorrow, the boy, Rock Lee graduated." Neji explained, making sure that none of his worry showed. Hiashi grimaced, to show his daughter and nephew what he thought about Lee graduating.

"Hinata, you will join your sister and I at dinner, otherwise, spend the rest of the today in your room." Hinata bowed and quickly walked off, grateful not to have to train with Neji. He stood there, waiting for his uncle to continue, now understanding that the silence was Hiashi trying to deal with the guilt of losing his brother. He deserved it for his dying request, neither one of them would have been happy. "Neji, you are dismissed." He bowed before leaving Hiashi's office, as he walked back to his room. Upon reaching it, he activated his Byakugan, knowing he would be allowed to practice inside without trouble. As he sat in the chair next to his desk, and making sure no one could see him writing, he slowly wrote down instructions for Kage Bushin. He then placed the paper with the rest of the notes he had taken at the exam. He felt relieved to notice that the bushin justu was not among the notes. _Well, Rokudaime, I may have ruined everything because of one technique. If I do not end up on Lee's and Tenten's team, perhaps I should fail, that way I could be on Naruto's team._

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A/N _Thanks for everyone for reading my first fanfic, I should have a beta for my next chapter. Please review and any constructive criticism or pointing out mistakes I made will be appreciated. And yes, Neji will act slightly ooc, but Naruto has rubbed off some his personality. And people have suggestions for pairing, I'll listen, though I do have a couple of pairings already planned.


	2. Team Assignments and Tests

A/N: Well, this was supposed to be up a week ago, unfortunately, a few things got in the way, though this chapter is longer. The next chapter should not take as long, though this time I should not have problems with my flash drive. Yeah new computer. Thanks to rose-of-alabaster, Jaur, and Sien for reviewing and all those that have read it. I'll try to keep out of the obvious traps of time travel.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, just playing in the author's world.

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_This morning will definitely not be mentioned to any of my subordinates, Panda will never look at me seriously without laughing his head off._ Neji thought as he attempted to keep his worry from manifesting in his actions. It had been bad enough that he had woken up two hours early. He used the extra time to make sure he did not overestimate his reach. Fortunately, by the time he finished practice, the distance problem was dealt with. However, he would have to consciously put less distance between his opponent and himself for Sixty-Four Strikes.

When he arrived at the Hyuuga gates, only the normal day guards, Michi and Nobu, were there, Hinata had been uncharacteristically late. Both guards were glancing at Neji, who occasionally tapped his foot against the ground. "Is the prodigy of our prestigious clan worried about his genin team?" Michi pondered.

"Yes, it will probably be my fate to be stuck with two teammates that will not help with the test, and thus force me to do the work of three people." Neji replied, attempting to cover the truth.

"No smirk, Neji?" Nobu commented. Neji froze mid-tap, as he glared at the guards. Both guards placed the patented Hyuuga smirk on their faces as he turned back to the Main House, hoping to use Hinata as an excuse to leave. A smile slipped onto his face upon seeing Hinata shuffle over as she hunched her shoulders at seeing Neji.

"Come, Lady Hinata, we must go." He let her pass before following, easily keeping up with her quicker than usual pace.

The crowds were at their usual level, giving Neji time to notice the shopkeepers they had passed. One of them was a "sleeper" ANBU. "Snare" had been quite helpful with dealing with the last root member, who had not been known. Anko had been more vindictive than usual while torturing the man since he had been one of the ninja that had stopped any attempts at catching the snake sannin after his assassination of the Sandaime. After revealing himself, he had tried to apologize for his past behavior by giving all of the Hokage's cloth and paper needs a large discount, but it was Naruto, so the apology was unnecessary. Tenzou had appreciated it as it cut down the cost for his ANBU units by about 10%. He went back to studying his cousin and noticed that she was holding her arm stiffly.

"Did you spar with your honored sister today, Hinata?" Neji silently cursed at his inattentiveness, even though no non-Hyuuga would have noticed with such limited information.

"Y-yes, B-brother N-neji." Her gaze dropped to her feet as her shoulders became even more hunched.

"Hinata, look at me." She creaked her face towards him, her eyes darted up to look behind him. "Do you think either Lady Hanabi or I are weak?"

"N-no, it is I who-"

"Then you insult us by holding back in spars."

"B-but, I d-do not, B-brother N-neji." The ground had regained its admirer. He placed his hand on her shoulder; he almost regretted it upon feeling her jump.

"You are worried about hurting us, I can see it. I appreciate that you were worried even though I was not deserving of it. But when we spar, even if you do not defeat me, if you fight your best, you help both of us. If you try your hardest, even your honored father would have to see your ability." He moved his hand, looked toward the academy and noticed Shikamaru, one of Hinata's classmates, was strolling to class, they will be late at this rate.

"Come, Lady Hinata, we must hurry." Hinata stuttered out an apology as the two rushed to the academy, Neji avoided looking in her direction. She was probably thinking about how she had messed up Hanabi's and Neji's training, but hopefully she would notice what he really meant.

They separated at the front hallway. Upon reaching his classroom, he walked in and found a seat in the back. He grimaced as he realized that Ryoko was in the next seat, she had been one of the more vocal fangirls. Very much like Sakura and Ino when they were in the academy.

"Neji, we're going to be on the same team and be the best team ever. Then we'll start dating and then get married and have many beautiful children." Neji's grimace grew, if he was not careful, Iruka would notice that he was worried. He had zoned out the lunatic next to him, knowing all too well that she will not pass Kakashi's test. _If the worse case scenario happens, I have to throw the test. Hiashi's will not kill me, she does not deserve to be a ninja. Besides she could not handle the actual job. Wolf of all people could make her a mental wreck and he had problems with scaring Hinata. Ok, perhaps I am not being fair, Wolf would get Hinata now, but Ryoko has her ninja family supporting her. Calm down, Neji, do not give Iruka any reason to believe you are worried._

He started to tap his foot with a slow rhythm. He glared at the door as if it was its fault that Iruka was late. The only thing he remembered that his name had come first in the list. Iruka pushed the door open and walked in, apologizing for his lateness. While giving the standard graduation speech, Neji's foot started to speed up. Ryoko did not notice, even as she occasionally stole a glance at the boy next to her. Iruka cleared his throat as he picked up the genin roster. Teams 1-4 were assigned and fortunately, none of his genin team was placed yet. The next two teams still had genin teams assigned to them, and thus skipped in assignment.

"Alright, for Team 7, Rock Lee, Tenten-"

"I feel sorry for the poor group that has him on a team, right Neji-darling?" Ryoko attempted to grab Neji's attention, believing that neither would have to listen it.

"Neji Hyuuga, your jounin-sensei is Maito Gai." Neji stopped his foot mid-step as he realized that he had leaned in about two degrees. That was unbecoming of himself, he smirked at Ryoko's complaint to Iruka and his response as an explanation that teams had to be balanced. Iruka continued to announce the rest of the teams. Upon finishing, he put the papers down and the class waited to be dismissed.

"Team 7, stay behind, everyone else is dismissed for lunch and then come back to meet your team leader." The class looked confused and Neji joined them while cocking an eyebrow. As the other students left, Neji smirked. He made it to the right team, he could pass whatever test Gai threw at them. He joined the other two in standing in front of their former teacher.

"Gai, if you are ready, you can come in now." Much to Neji's surprise, the door opened normally and Gai had just walked in. Neji's eyes widened and gripped Iruka's desk with his left hand. "Please have your meeting somewhere else, Gai."

"Of course, Iruka, I thank you for the opportunity to meet with my youthful students early." Iruka nodded while closing his eyes, protecting himself from being blinded by Gai's smile. "I have the perfect place." He added. Tenten blinked a storm at the jounin's actions before following, not sure what to make of him. Lee remembered the man from the one time he had encouraged him, thus this was a dream come true. Iruka blinked twice at Neji, who was still standing there, still gripping the desk.

"Neji, you'll be left behind if you don't hurry. Don't worry, Gai knows his stuff despite his dress." Iruka sometimes wondered if some of the male ninja disliked Gai's style because he actually had a body that could pull it off. Though he would never voice that opinion out loud, he did not need to give the rumors of his preferences any more false validations.

"Yes, Iruka." Neji rushed out the door. He stared at the open door, did Neji sound remorseful? Perhaps he should ask Gai about it later.

Neji could not believe it. He had practiced with Naruto to prevent shock, making sure that his Byakugan was not active. They had gone through everyone that they thought might come up, including Kabuto. The first kage bushin of Kabuto was killed with a quick blow to the chest and after forcing Neji to see him ten times, the Rokudaime had presumed him adequately prepared. They had not practiced with Gai because his death should have had enough time that Neji thought he would be fine. Now, if Gai had not been wearing his green spandex with his bowl haircut, he could have blown his cover. At least he still had the edge on avoiding being read by his sensei for now. Even if Lee stole the tactic of watching the students a week before the genin exam from Gai, Neji had slightly better control. At least, when ghosts from his personal past were not suddenly revived. He caught up to the other three with Lee watching Gai's every step. Yep, he had to beat Lee as quickly as possible. Tenten gave Neji a look over before returning to her scanning of the area. He smirked as he had a good idea where they were going. The area had always been pretty quiet. At least when none of the ANBU had to give chase to anyone. Gai had not been thrilled that the mediation exercise was interrupted. Or the fact that the cover for the place was destroyed. The benches were comfortable, if you did not try to sleep on them.

Upon reaching the place, their sensei motioned for them to sit.

"Well, my youthful students, today starts the grand and wonderful journey of your youth. First, tell me more about yourselves, your likes and your dreams. Tenten, if you would start us off." The sparkle from his teeth irritated their eyes.

"Yes, sensei, my name is Tenten, I like training with my weapons and wish to be a strong kunoichi like my idol, Tsunade."

After Tenten finished, Rock Lee shot his hand up, nearly hitting her, before almost shouting, "My name is Rock Lee, and I want to prove that I can be a great ninja without ninjustu or genjustu." Neji slightly smirked, remembering the first time this happened.

Lee turned towards his teammate, "What is your problem?"

"You think you will be able to be a ninja with just taijustu? We should test it, if it is ok with you, Sensei?"

"Of course, I know the perfect place." Gai shouted as Neji's smirk grew larger. Lee glared at him, Gai's enthusiasm saturated the area, and Tenten frowned at her teammates.

Walking up next to his hyper teammate, Neji whispered, "How about we lay down a bet. If you win, I will announce to as many people as you want me to that you are a better ninja than I will ever be. But, if I win, you can never model your style off of sensei, ever." Lee nodded, and he smirked as he saw Gai slowed his step for a microsecond. Perhaps Gai had more of an effect on Lee's style than he originally thought.

"This place will work well, my youthful students. So are you only using taijustu, Neji?"

"Of course, sensei. Are you ready, Lee?" He nodded as Neji prepared himself in his standard Jyuuken stance. No matter what the Rokudaime claimed, Jyuuken was nothing more than taijustu with releases of chakra out of the body. _As soon as Lee aims a low kick, I'll close the tenketsu on his upper leg. After that, I should be able to knock his other foot out. _Neji activated his Byakugan and waited as Lee started to charge. Lee aimed his fist at Neji's head, which reminded him that Lee was still using the academy's style. He shifted to the right, and Lee brought his right hand to chop at his side. His lower arm blocked the attack as he brought his open palm to strike the vulnerable chest. His opponent jumped back as both fighters noted that the wind from the palm had affected Lee's shirt.

Charging to close the distance, Neji targeted the same area. Lee shoved the attacking arm out of the way and then attempted to take off Neji's head with a roundhouse kick. Ducking under the kick, he stabbed two fingers into the offending knee. His other arm blocked the second kick as Lee drove him back a couple of steps. As his opponent landed, he lashed out with his free hand and speared two fingers into his opponent's upper right arm. He chambered a kick and launched it into his opponent's unhindered arm. The kick dislodged the block, and wasting no time, he brought an uncharged open palm to strike the chest. He smirked at Lee's collapse onto the ground.

"Yield." Lee's refusal to respond was answer enough to Neji. "You know, you might never beat me, but you are right, you'll be a great ninja with just taijustu." He reached out a hand. Lee stared at him for a minute before accepting.

"Yes, my youthful students have planted the strong seeds of rivalry." Gai ambushed both of them with one of his large one-armed hugs. Neji's smirk shifted to a smile while Tenten laughed at the ridiculous scene in front of her. "You know Neji, you still have not answered the original question." Both boys landed with a thump, though Lee practiced his balance using only one working leg.

"My name is Neji, I enjoy watching birds flying free, and I dream to end those terrible curses still in Konoha." Gai's smile brightened and Neji wondered if he should challenge…, before realizing that these two had rubbed off of him a little too much.

"Now, tomorrow, it really begins, be here at 8:00 a.m. You all should go grab some lunch, and Neji wait a moment." The serious glint in his eyes appeared at his ominous message. _Tomorrow is Gai's test, do not be worse than the bell test._ The other two walked off, or in Lee's case, limped away.

"Yes, sensei?" Neji questioned after his teammates left.

"It is nice to see you not mention fate once today."

"I came upon a startling discovery, sensei. And that gave me a new light to see my situation from." Gai entered his nice guy pose and Neji briefly wondered if Gai would try to get him to wear spandex as well.

"That is most excellent, keep the flames of youth burning brightly." Neji smirked before shaking his head at missing Gai's antics and made his way back to the village.

He came upon Lee limping with Tenten listening to him proclaim how he will bet Neji someday.

"Lee, stand still." Both his teammates watched as Neji pressed the points that he had closed and reopened them. "We all should grab some lunch, I know a cheap but good place nearby."

"Neji, can you explain what you did to Lee in your fight? And why did you challenge him but not me?" Tenten spun a kunai in her hands; it was how she dealt with nervousness until after starting to use summoning scrolls.

"I will explain when we get to the restaurant and besides you are a great long range fighter. I think sensei was wrong Lee, I do not think the seeds of rivalry have been planted." Lee crept closer as could not believe that he would contradict sensei.

"I think we might be friends, if we pass the genin test."

"What type of test are you talking about? Do the jounin get to deny genin they don't like?" Tenten speculated.

"Yes, if we do not pass his test, we have to go back to the academy, and each jounin test differently. Just as long as we work together, we can pass easily." He smirked realizing that today had to be the last time coming to the Ramen Stand this week. While tasty, it was not good for his health and he did not want the Hyuuga clan cooks thinking that he preferred a ramen stand to a real meal.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, oh, we have a new genin team perhaps?" The young woman with a brown ponytail and white kitchen apron smiled at the three walking in. "My name is Ayame and what can I get you today?" The stand was quiet, as the lunch rush had finished and the civilian jobs usually finished in about another hour.

"I happened to come here while I was waiting for my cousin and The Sandaime was here." Neji relayed to his teammates about the place.

"What was he like? It must have been wonderful to talk to the Hokage."

"Right, Lee, umm, Neji, that was Jyuuken you used against Lee, right? I thought that the strikes were supposed to be palm strikes? And why challenge him in a fight you know you were going to win?" Tenten's curiosity about the fight and her guess that Neji would want all of the questions at once fueled the questioning.

"I modified the fighting style slightly, gives a bit more reach. You are the best in our class at throwing weapons, while I wanted to make sure Lee was not just given a pity pass from Iruka." He smirked.

"Thank you, my rival." While Lee could be dense quite a bit of the time, it was his smarts that had helped him pass without the ability to complete the academy justus. Neji just stared at his teammate, it had been a very good thing for the bet.

"Though, Neji, why the bet with the fight?"

"Simple, it made sure neither of us held back and I saw how you seem to admire our sensei. I do not want another eyesore on my team."

"He is not an eyesore, Neji." Lee harrumphed as he crossed his arms in front of him. Neji had hoped that Tenten would add something, but it looked like the team needed more time together first.

"Tenten, could you explain what type of weapons you prefer?" Tenten jumped at the chance as Lee listened attentively, while Neji only pretended.

After Gai's death, Neji went into ANBU, while the other two worked on becoming jounin and eventually leaders of genin teams. Lee had stop modeling himself after Gai, claiming until he surpassed Gai, he could not call himself a Green Beast of Konoha. Surprising his teammates, he had asked Tenten for help with his wardrobe. He had surprised most of the males in the remaining rookie 11 with having a decent style, when he was not mimicking his sensei. The important part during the time for Neji was the fact that Naurto had convinced Hiashi, with help from Hinata, to have his seal removed. And to help make it easier for the rest of the clan to deal with, Neji went on longer missions. During this time, Lee had given up on Sakura, and had turned his attention to Tenten. And having known the man since they were young adults, she knew that he was not just using her as a rebound attempt. They officially started dated about a year after Gai's death and got married six months later. Neji had been Lee's best man and had to help Tenten make sure there was no possible way any alcohol would be there. They did not want the situation turning into what happened before, where the Rokudaime, his wife, Shikamaru, and himself had to restrain Lee after he had a whole bottle of sake. Saying that the owner had only a slight problem with it would be equivalent to saying that Hinata had a slight crush on Naruto.

"So, Neji, besides the academy techniques, do you use anything besides Jyuuken?" Tenten's question dragged him from memory lane.

"As a Hyuuga, it is _highly discouraged_ to use any other justu." Of course, it had been highly discouraged for a Hyuuga to join ANBU, but he had been first according to the records. It might have been due to the fact that the first head had been miffed when the Uchiha's received control of the military police. Ayame placed their food in front of them as they started eating.

"Neji, you were most correct about the food here. Perhaps we should stop here as a team often." Lee grinned and gave a thumbs-up. Neji felt a moment of dread as though he would never have any money in his wallet after two months. Though he could not place the reason why.

"Hey, it's Weird Eyes! I told you this place was the best." Tenten mouthed 'Weird Eyes' at Neji while he examined Naruto as he entered. He wore his 'I look always happy, but I'm just trying to hide the sadness' grin on. Neji raised his eyebrow a tenth of an inch in response.

"My name is Rock Lee, this is Tenten, and we are Neji's teammates. How do you know him?" While Lee asked, Tenten gave Naruto a once over.

"I met him here yesterday, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage, nice to meet you Rock Lee!" He beamed at the group.

"Didn't you fail the exam twice?" Tenten attempted to find out if the rumors were true.

"Hey, next year I'll do fine, I just have too much chakra. Why don't you tell them that, Neji?" His eye veins bulged as he stared at Naruto's coils. _They are larger than I thought they would be at this time._

"I have never seen any student have this much chakra." Naruto cheered the news while both Tenten and Lee stared at him.

"Hey, Naruto, no scaring the other customers." Under Ayame's scrutiny, he sat back down in his seat, staring at the table.

"Umm…, Neji, you're strong right?" The hyper boy was replaced by a quieter and subdued Naruto.

"He was the rookie of the year and is the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan." Lee stated.

"So you're stronger than Sasuke, right?" His eyes glued to his target.

"Yes." He replied as he went back to the ramen.

"Then, can you train me?" He bursted out, ignoring Ayame's warning. "If you did, I could easily beat Sasuke, then everyone in class-" Naruto's exclamation was interrupted by a group of people walking by, not attempting to be quiet. The leader of the group had covered some of his face and one eye. He had glanced over at the stand, contempt in his face. _He must be mad that the weapon is not emotionless. Either that or because he does not have control of his development. Too bad I cannot just go out there and arrest him. I miss that. I need to convince Hinata to give me an official order to help Naruto otherwise I will be punished by the caged bird seal severely._

He deactivated his Byakugan before answering, "When I have time, Naruto. Excuse me, Lady Hinata is probably finished with classes." Neji placed his money on the table, stood up, and walked out. He smirked at Tenten following him out.

"So, are you going to explain what you are up to? You go from continually talking about how we have no control of our fate and that you do not believe that anyone in our class can help you to espousing that teamwork is important and that you believe Lee is a friend."

"To tell you the truth, Tenten, I realized that I did not believe in fate and had been struggling against it the whole time. And that the best way to defy my fate is to make sure that our group becomes the best it can be, especially since Lee's on our team. If I am helping Naruto, the village pariah, they will be even more furious."

"But won't they activate the caged seal if you don't follow orders?" Neji slowed his step, it seemed that she had learned as much as she could about him.

"Not if I can get someone in the main family to order me to help Naruto. One of my cousins has a massive crush on him."

"That would make sense, but why are you trusting me with this?"

"Because you're the best kunoichi in our class and it our team will help deal with my 'sudden' change." Tenten nodded before leaving, needing time to digest the information she had just heard.

Neji continued onto the academy with the occasional respectful nod from civilian passer-bys, showing support to their protectors. He recognized a couple of them, one of which had been caught trying to light the Hokage's tower on fire a day after the Rokudaime's ascension. It had also been the last attempt by a civilian on him, especially after the improvements made by his rule.

Neji came upon Hinata standing there, pushing her fingers together as she would every minute or so, and glance at the swing, wishing that it would be filled with a certain blonde-haired individual. He made sure to make his approach noticeable, that way she would not feel that he attempted to sneak up on her.

Once he stopped about five feet from her, she turned and uttered, "N-naruto was not in class today, d-did he pass a special exam?" Her words filled with hope and despair at the same time.

"I saw him today, he did not. Though it sounds like that the teachers do not like him. Would you say that is the case, Hinata?" Neji neutralized all traces of emotions on his face and stance. She nodded as she stared at her cousin, not understanding where the conversation was going.

"Naruto asked me to train him, claims that if I do he will be a better ninja than Sasuke." They started to walk back to the Hyuuga clan area.

"D-did you s-say yes?"

"I cannot, since your honored uncle would not approve. However, if a main branch member gave me the order to help Naruto, then I would have to obey." He replied as he watched Ryoko try to hide behind one of the buildings ahead. He swerved their path to the other side of the road, hopefully avoiding whatever she had planned.

"B-brother Neji, w-would you help Naruto?" She barely squeaked out as Ryoko jumped out to surprise them, but upon seeing they were ten feet away, and ignoring her, stormed off.

"That was not an order, Lady Hinata." He stated, ignoring Ryoko's attempt to draw attention to her. Hinata brought her index fingers together and taking a deep breath, looked into Neji's eyes.

"B-brother Neji, I wish for you to help Naruto become a ninja." As she finished her pseudo-command, she held his gaze while holding her breath in.

"As you wish, Lady Hinata." A smile escaped onto his face as she looked down, entirely fascinated with the ground. "Do not worry about your honored uncle, I can take care of myself. Though you do need to check up with Naruto and make sure that I am teaching him well. That does mean speaking to him in a long conversation." At this her cheeks burnt bright red as she attempted to speak, but only squeaks came out. Being able to tease his cousin caused his smile to become quite visible, he added, "Hinata, I know you do not feel comfortable speaking with him, but he needs you to. The day after you do, I will probably hear about how he made a friend with this nice, shy girl with strange eyes just like you, and are you related?" Unfortunately for Hinata's endurance, she could barely stay standing, which brought him to use his arm to steady her, making sure not to grab her injured arm. She responded to the touch by looking around. After discovering her target was not here, her cheeks drained most of the color away, though they still tinged with a bit of redness. His smiled vanished as he replaced it with his favorite smirk, covering his thoughts.

_I think I know how to get rid of Danzo, the Kyuubi Law affects anyone who tells someone who does not know, even if they did not mean to. He occasionally told his subordinates about the fox. If I can get Naruto to sneak into the building and overhear him, it will take care of him learning about the fox and take care of Root. If that does not work, I can use Naruto hiding and oversee Danzo talking about it. The only question will be, what will happen with Sai and the other young children in Danzo's grasp? _

Neji had spared Hinata from any more teasing on their journey. He was not in the mood to carry an unconscious body back. The two guards bowed at Hinata's arrival, Neji had removed his hand before reaching their destination, much to her relief.

"Neji, Lord Hiashi will speak with you immediately." Michi stated before turning his attention to Hinata. "Lady Hinata, your father wishes to see you afterwards in the dojo." They separated as Neji headed towards Hiashi's office. He kept his Byakugan shut off, not wanting Hiashi to believe he was spying on official clan business. Even though this clan had no sense of privacy, when summoned to the clan head's office, they must show respect, thus no activated Byakugan. He was hoping that Hinata was going to be watching a match, to see proper Jyuuken performed, not another sparring match.

"Enter." Neji kept his face void of emotion as he followed the command. Hiashi had paperwork in front of him, and unlike the Sandaime and Godaime, he did not mind paperwork. It helped him avoid having to deal with the problems of his oldest not being strong enough, or that his only nephew would never want to speak or let alone be in the same room as him.

"Who are your teammates and leader?"

"Maito Gai, the Lee boy, and the weapon user Tenten." Hiashi nodded, his relief at the news plainly visible to Neji. "Lord Hiashi, will I be needed in escorting Lady Hinata to the academy anymore now that I am assigned to a genin team?"

Placing the pencil down, Hiashi focused his full attention on his nephew. After finishing his mental evaluation to his satisfaction, he ordered, "You will follow me to the dojo." The two Hyuuga both left the office and strode to their destination. Hinata and Hanabi were standing there, waiting for them. Hinata had resumed her examination of the ground, while Hanabi had a slightly raised eyebrow as she had already sparred with her sister today.

"Hinata you will have a chance to redeem yourself. You will fight your cousin, do not disgrace yourself." Neji stared at his uncle while his cousin hunched her shoulders and pushed her index fingers together.

"I was told by Gai not to exert myself tonight. If the test is as strenuous as he implies, I may have to cover for deficiency in one of my teammates." At his statement, Hinata shot her line of sight at the two. Her fingers had also stopped moving.

"Are you implying that-"

"Gai attempts to surpass Hatake Kakashi in everything." Hiashi raised one of his eyebrows.

"Very well, then, you are dismissed, you will report to me immediately after your test." He bowed and left the three main family members. Once out of Byakugan range, he smirked, as the passing branch members ignored him. The branch members congratulated him at dinner, though both Michi and Minoru gave him their condolences about his jounin. He nodded, smirked and mentioned fate, though it was not in the way that the others thought. After finishing dinner, he slipped off to his room. He spent the rest of the day trying to remember how his teammates fought starting out of the academy. The best part of the night was when Hinata came by and thanked him for not fighting and was able to not stutter.

The next morning, Neji found himself to be the last one to make it to the training field. Lee was stretching while Tenten had been checking her kunai and shuriken. Neji activated his Byakugan, verifying that his weapon cache was secure. He nodded to both of them as he joined Lee in stretching. However the quiet time was cut short by Gai's arrival.

"Welcome, today we will be testing your strength and teamwork against me." His smile and thumbs up not reflected in his pupils' reactions, Lee gulped as he stared, Tenten grasped the kunai in her right hand, and Neji grimaced. _We have to defeat Gai, I know he will not go full strength, but this might be worse than Kakashi's test due to Gai's high standards._ Neji dropped into the stance for Jyuuken, while Lee mimicked with the academy's taijustu, and Tenten grabbed a few shuriken while backing away from her sensei.

"Begin." Gai charged at Tenten, forcing Lee and Neji to intercept him. As Lee swung his fist at his opponent's stomach, Neji aimed for the arm that he hoped would be used to block. Unfortunately, Gai's other hand slammed into his upper arm, knocking him out of position, while his other arm easily stopped Lee's attack. Gai pressed his advantage as he whipped one of his legs at Lee, who barely could bring his arm to block, but the force from the kick drove him back. His follow-up attack was delayed by multiple shuriken that intercepted the path between him and Lee. Turning toward the other melee attacker, Gai launched a kick at his chest. Ducking under and away the kick, Neji jabbed his fingers at the offending leg. However, the attack was too slow and Gai retaliated with a sweep of his legs, knocking the Hyuuga off his feet. Gai weaved away from Lee's swings, and chambering a kick; releasing it into his chest. The impact removed the air from his lungs as he crumpled onto the ground. More shuriken and kunai clobbered Gai's shadow, who aimed his next punch at Neji, who barely had enough time to leap away to avoid suffering the same fate as Lee.

He leapt back again, and smirking for the first time during the fight proclaimed, "You are within my divinations, Divination Field: Sixty-Four Strikes." He rushed at his opponent, moving with greater speed than usual. "Two palms." Bringing his fingertips to strike at the critical tenketsu, Neji's momentum was interrupted as Gai swatted away the arms and slammed the other fist into his stomach. He dropped as his vision went blurry, as his legs could not handle the strain of holding him up.

OoOoOoOoO

He opened his eyes to see tree branches above him as he activated the Byakugan, he saw both Tenten and Lee sitting about twenty feet away while Gai spoke quietly enough that Neji could only make out the words due to being able to read his lips. The normal breathing indicated that Neji had been out cold for a decent enough time. However, the bruises from where Gai hit them straight on were still quite visible. He reached down and slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"Neji, it is good to see that you are awake, come join your teammates." Using the deactivation of the Byakugan as a physical distraction, he composed his thoughts. He walked over and placed himself on the ground next to Tenten. "Now, I must say, the basics of teamwork in this group are here, you made sure to not force your teammates into covering for over extending yourself, and you attempted to maximum the chances of at least one of your attacks hitting. Lee, while using your attacks to prevent me from taking down Neji, your speed was too slow. I also broke yours and Neji's defenses with too few strikes. Neji, you attempted to surprise me with a technique, however, the technique requires me to be slower than you to be effective. The main problem the team had was no attempts at planning, this lead to Tenten's attacks becoming only defensive screens instead of setting up a successful strike. While it is true that you theoretically fight with someone you have no experience with, in this exercise you had time to communicate with each other." All three genin were staring at him, the normal optimism completely vanished. Neji almost activated his Byakugan to verify the identity of their sensei.

"However, I believe that you three have shown great potential in this sparring exercise. I had expected to have Tenten defeated first before you two were able to position yourselves. Instead I was force to defeat both of you, if Tenten had been a scout with important information, she had a good chance of getting away. And Tenten's defensive screens were effective at preventing me from ending the fight earlier." His smile smothering his words. "Now that we had a small break, time for some training. Lee, run one lap around Konoha, this will help build your endurance and be useful for your main training. Tenten, practice hitting the targets from about 50 feet away, I will be there shortly for you to avoid hitting a teammate while still hitting the target." Pausing as Lee nodded as he took off at a moderate pace while Tenten walked away from the last two of her team.

"That was a sparring practice, what about your test?" Neji's inability to explain how they passed getting the better of him.

"You already passed it, yesterday, you have shown the ability to work with your teammates and all of you possess the will to strengthen your flames of youth. Now, do you know Kaiten?" Neji mouth slid open about a half of inch at Gai's question while the questioner's smile grew even wider. It had seemed that Gai had learned all he could about the gentle fist. Returning to the actual question, Neji nodded, brought his arms out, started to pump chakra into his body and released it while spinning. The spin was not a complete shield yet.

"Well, you know what you need to work on and when Lee comes back, tell him to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups."

"Understood, sensei." Gai headed over to target practice area. _Ok, time to relearn Kaiten, if only I actually remembered how I learnt it without help the first time. Perhaps I will rope Naruto into being taught a little bit by Gai or at least, suggest to Lee if he needs a sparring partner, that Naruto would always be willing. Just as long as Naruto does not start wearing an orange spandex suit or pepper his speech with "The Flames of Youth."_

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Let me know if the fight scene were done well, and let me how the rest is.


	3. Training The Mind and Body

A/N Well, here it is this time within two weeks. It's still Friday in the Hawaii Time Zone. Since my time zone I'm about two minutes away from making it with-in midnight. Thanks to , Apocalypse, RuTakasheryuu, and rose-of-alabaster for reviewing. Also I have a beta, kitsuneguy or something... why am I feeling some killing intent from behind me?

Disclaimer: I only know about 104+ japanese words, I doubt the 4 words give me the ability to own Naruto, rats.

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The dojo was silent, except for Neji, who was clobbering one of the training dummies. Each strike would cause it light up, proving that each hit would have disabled a tenkatsu point. He grimaced with each hit, still not being fast enough. If Gai could block his attacks with that much ease, he would not be able to hit the snake sannin. He abruptly stopped at seeing Hiashi enter his field of vision.

"What was Gai's test?" He stood there trying to read his nephew.

"He fought against all three of us at once."

"How strong did he fight?"

"High chunin or very low jounin." Neji noticed a slight change in his stare. "We passed." He wore his favorite smirk.

"I see you were right about his test. Did any of the other teams pass from your class?" He shook his head while watching the clan head.

"Continue this acceptable behavior." Hiashi walked back to his office, leaving Neji, who deactivated his Byakugan before heading to breakfast. Even though he knew it was not Hiashi's fault that his father was dead, he was still troubled by Hiashi's last wish. After Sasuke's obliteration of Konoha, Neji and Hinata found him, bleeding from a hole caused by a raiton technique, probably Chidori. He requested that his nephew and daughter made sure that the Hyuuga line is continued. That would have been fine, until he explained that he wanted them to have a child. Neji claimed that he had been delirious and misspoke, but either way both of them could not be together without the awkwardness causing Neji to quickly leave the area. If Hinata had been able to ignore her father's last request, life would have been better for both of them. Besides the Rokudaime needed someone after the hospital was destroyed with everyone in it. When Neji found out that Hinata had died protecting a group of civilians from Sasuke's sound ninja squad, he had a sense of relief that he felt guilty for. Though it also might have been caused by Naruto started to work on making the time-traveling seal.

OoOoO

Neji nodded at Lee's exuberant greeting and Tenten's wave. The one thing that bothered him about his team was that they were Team 7, he thought that last time they were Team 9 until Gai renamed them Team Gai. Perhaps his change of attitude made Iruka pick this team earlier than he did the first time. In the grand scheme of things, it would not affect anything.

"So, Neji, do you know why Gai wanted us not to mention what we saw in training to anyone?" Tenten placed her kunai and sharpening tools down while watching her arriving teammate.

"Because I am a branch family member, there are a couple of techniques that only the main family members are taught."

"Do not worry, Neji, I promise that I will never tell anyone about what we practice. Though the technique you tried on Gai, if it had worked what would have happened?" Lee asked, he must have heard about the attempt while Neji drifted in unconsciousness yesterday.

"I should have disabled him enough that even Ryoko could defeat him." He smirked as Tenten laughed.

"But Ryoko scored high on the exams-"

"Lee, her team did not pass Kakashi test, though, I'm not sure what Gai's was. Perhaps he just wanted us to last a bit."

"Actually, you two already past his test before the teams were assembled." Tenten raised her eyebrow at Neji.

"And what makes you say that my youthful student?" Gai shunshined in front of the group, causing Lee to stare while Tenten jumped.

"Simple, Lee had met you before and Tenten has the largest drive for the potential kunoichi in class. It is obvious that you prize the drive to succeed and none of the jounin that had not talk to Iruka or observed us would want Rock Lee. Thus it would have been easy for you to get them on the team. I would be the variable on the team and thus your ease for letting Lee and I spar during introductions. I assumed that I passed after showing that I believe in my teammate. Did I miss anything, sensei?" Lee's jaw dropped and Tenten stared at her sensei while Gai smiled and held two thumbs up.

"Excellent analysis, Neji. Normally, teams that passed would start missions today, however, occasionally D ranked missions have had engagement with the enemy. And also, the missions train you in skills that are not as important right now. Thus we shall continue working on your fighting ability. First we need to warm-up, two laps around Konoha." Right before the team took off, Neji removed a scroll from his back and set it down, mentioning it was for later. During the first lap, the three genin ran quietly while Gai would explain different locations that they needed to know. On the second lap, he would quiz about the places, the only place they answered wrong was the field number for the Forest of Death.

After finishing the laps, Gai had Tenten and Lee spar with taijustu, while he and Neji watched and he commented while taking notes. After finishing, Gai pulled out a couple of orange leg warmers, the splitting image of his own.

"Lee, I believe I have the perfect taijustu style for you, but first we must increase your strength, underneath these wonderful warmers you can wear weights."

"I am sorry sensei, but I cannot wear them." Lee shook his head as he frowned. Gai's smile dropped as he stared at Lee. "I lost a bet and as a man, I cannot go against my word." It seemed that Lee had found Gai after the group finished at the ramen stand. Neji smirked as he watched the horror was averted, Tenten will probably thank him in a couple of years.

"Perhaps he can wear them under his normal clothes, that way it will be less noticeable." Tenten offered, her gaze jumping back and forth between Gai and Neji. "And why is Lee the only one that is using this training method?"

"That might work, though the release system would need some work. I will have something for it soon. Also, this training method would interfere with your throwing, and the Hyuuga techniques do not rely on as much power for their fighting style. Though if Neji would like the practice wearing these wonderful-"

"No, sensei, I have heard that wearing weight could effect my chakra control and ruin my jyuuken." Neji interrupted.

Nodding in response, Gai turned to Tenten. "Today we shall work on your melee weapon forms. And Neji, I want you to practice against Lee, do not use any chakra in your blows, just count each hit." The team nodded as Lee and Neji moved away to spar while Gai gave Tenten personal instruction.

After practice the team separated, with Neji checking up on his 'stalker' cousin, wondering if she actually approached Naruto yet. Surprisingly, he found Naruto alone, sitting at the Ramen Stand, picking at his food. He walked over and giving into the smell of the food, he prepared to order some food. Upon reaching his stool, he gently placed the scroll down in front of him. Ayame walked over and smiled, efficiently taken his order. Now all they needed was Shikamaru sitting here, saying that eating here was troublesome. The Rokudaime had Neji sit there with them and almost everyone thought he had been one of Naruto's kage bushin. After all, if Naruto loved ramen as much as he did, would he not want to eat as much as possible? This lead to one assassin being caught because he had been freaked out that he could not see where Neji was really hiding. Hiding in plain sight indeed. What had surprised Neji the most was how Naruto did not seem to react to his presence, he expected a more joyous reaction.

"Hello, Naruto." His neighbor jumped before giving him a once over.

"Freaky Eyes, you're back." He smiled and turned to their server. "See, Ayame, I got you a new customer I should get a free bowl."

"I will not train you if you do not call me by my real name." Neji interjected before Ayame could respond. Naruto dropped his chopsticks as he turned to his companion.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ummm… Nagi. No, I'm sorry, Negi." As Neji continued to stare at him, his face went pale, as he scratched the back of his head.

"My name is Neji, Naruto. I am free for the rest of the day, so I figured you would be up for some training-" He quickly found himself laying on the ground as he received a flying tackle hug from the blond haired boy.

"Alright, yes, with this training I will become stronger than Sasuke and then everyone will have see that I'm better than him!" Standing up quickly and leaving Neji slightly shocked, Naruto started to jump up and down. "Ayame, an Uzumaki Special on me for Neji!" She giggled as she turned back to cooking. Neji picked himself off the ground as he pulled himself back to his stool. He smirked, remembering how big it was for Naruto to buy ramen for someone before he was Rokudaime. Picking up the scroll he placed down earlier, he unrolled it before handing it over to his new student.

"Naruto, I would like you to read this, it should help you understand the bushin justu better." He looked at the scroll while hunching his shoulders. After about thirty seconds, he tossed the scroll down before turning to Neji.

"I want to learn something with more power or cool looking. And why don't you show me a justu?"

"You want to be Hokage, right? Reading quickly from scrolls is an important part of the job. It will also help you pass the exam. Considerate it a double lesson." Naruto slumped into his seat before returning to the scroll. He glanced at the different symbols, while Neji started on his ramen, thanking Ayame who smiled before working on Naruto's dirty dishes. After finishing his ramen and noticing that Naruto still was working on the third paragraph, he decided for some teacher intervention. "What is the problem, Naruto?"

"Umm… Neji, I can't read that good." He explained while scratching the back of his head.

"How much can you understand?" He asked while ignoring the bad grammar in his statement.

"About a third." Neji nodded as he took the scroll for a look over. _Great, I should have realized that Jiraiya's training included fixing up his reading problems. Did Iruka ever know about it? _Shaking his head, he rolled up it up and set back on the table.

"Well, then, I have something else for us to do, and no it is not a new justu. We are going to work on your stealth."

"Hey, I am great at hiding." Naruto huffed at him.

"Then we should test that, if you evade me for an hour, I will find a justu for you to learn each week. If I find you in that hour, you may not complain about any of the training we do." Naruto cheered, Neji smirked, and Ayame reminded the ramen stand's favorite customer not to terrify the other customers. "Naruto, meet me at training field 17, it should be free. I need to return this and finish eating."

"You also need to get a cool justu for me." He grinned and sprinted off. Neji's smirk stayed plastered to his face. He had been smart to not to agree to try to catch him, that would be difficult. Grabbing the scroll, he stood and noticed Ayame staring at him.

"It is nice to see a new customer and one of Naruto's friends here."

"Well, this place is friendly and has good food. I can see why Naruto likes it."

"So, if it wasn't for the food you wouldn't be seeing him, Neji? Some friend you are." He neutralized all emotion from his face as he watched her stare at him, her attempt at provoking him might have worked if he was not use to word games at home.

"I will not hurt him with training, no need to poison my next order of ramen." She giggled in response. He reached into a wallet and dropped more money on the table.

"Could you do me a favor and find a couple of books for someone beginning to learn how to read? They are for Naruto and I do not want rumors about the Hyuuga to start circulating, unfortunately."

"And what do I do with the extra money?"

"Consider it payment for the mission." She scooped the money as she nodded. He smiled and hopefully she would find something to help Naruto. He marched off to training field.

Reaching the familiar area, he found Naruto bouncing on his feet. "So, is that the scroll with the cool move? You won't be able to find me, Neji! Because I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage." With that declaration, Naruto rushed into the forest area and was out of sight. Neji sat in the field, planning how to make sure he would not get away. He grimaced upon realizing that he was a lost cause, like Kakashi, having fallen into making bets with obnoxiously loud ninja. What made it worse for the Hyuuga genius was unlike Kakashi, who used them to run from the past, he was abusing it. He swore then and there, that no matter what Gai offered him, he could never, ever, accept a bet from him.

Calming himself, he glanced around the area and saw no bits of orange or yellow hair sticking out of the grass. He activated his Byakugan and was pleased to notice that Naruto was not within fifty meters. Focusing chakra into his feet, Neji climbed into one of the many trees ringing the field and started heading towards where Naruto could be, jumping from branch to branch. He knew he would find Naruto, the spread grass gave his journey away. If he could travel by branch, he would be cutting it close for the time limit. On his journey, the only markings of his passing were the leaves falling from being shaken off the branch from the impact. The trail continued through shorter grass and if it was not for the Byakugan, he might have lost it. After the fiftieth tree Naruto appeared in his vision, hiding behind another one. Every ten seconds or so, he would glance back towards the training field. Deactivating his Byakugan, Neji leaped to above his position after Naruto turned and re-hid behind the tree. He inched along on the branch, until he would land about a half-foot away from his target.

"Not too bad of a hiding spot Naruto." Naruto slammed up against the tree as Neji quickly entered his vision. He grinned at him while scratching the back of his head.

"You're awesome, Neji, can you teach me how you did that? And how did you find me so quickly?"

"My Byakugan gives me enhanced vision, I can see through objects, it also helps against genjustu. Lesson one, make sure to learn as much as you can about your enemy before challenging them. Lesson two, keep watch everywhere. If I was an Iwa ninja, I may have attempted to come at you from the ground."

"But I don't have freaky eyes like you, I can't see underground."

"Then you need to work on detecting other people's chakra around you. We will get to that later. First, I want you try to channel as little chakra as you can." After finishing, he activated his eyes. His blond haired student complied as he brought his hands in position for the ram seal. He held it and stared at his teacher, examining the bulging vein coming out of his eyes. "Naruto, use that much chakra and attempt to create three bushin." Cycling through the handseals, a light poof noise and smoke followed the discharge of chakra. Three clones of him appeared, though all three looked pale and underfed.

"As you can see Naruto, you still are using too much chakra. But no worries, by the time the next exam comes up, you will easily pass." At that Naruto tackled him while shouting to the world the good news. Neji allowed a chuckle to escape at the tackle and waited patiently to be let up.

"So, Neji, what are we going to do now?" Naruto wondered as he stood up. Neji followed suit, though he brushed the grass off his clothes.

"I am going to show you where the library is and tomorrow we should meet there. Also when do you do your shopping?"

"Probably in three days, I'll run out of instant ramen then. Why are you asking?"

"Because instead of training that day, we are going shopping for food and supplies. I know of a place to get good weapons." Naruto's jaw dropped and his started to ball up his fists as his response sputtered out and Neji deactivated his Byakugan.

"Why, are you helping me so much?" Naruto's eyes started water as he bit his lip. _Because you will get rid of the branch seal of the Hyuuga, you freed me from my destructive path, you gave hope to Hinata when none of her family would. Though you have not done that all of that yet._

"The Sandaime sees something in you and it would good for the Hyuuga to have someone that is a personal friend of the future Hokage."

"You really believe that I will become Hokage? You're awesome Neji!" Naruto started to hop around screaming his gladness as his waterworks erupted down his face, Gai would have been proud.

"Though I did not think that the future Hokage would be such a crybaby." Neji smirked and patted his back as Naruto attempted to wipe his eyes. With a quick wave behind him, Neji headed back to the village with a very jubilant Naruto bouncing behind him.

OoOoO

The next day's training had been one of Lee's favorites, otherwise known as endurance training. Neji appreciated it, since it was where he was most lacking. He also smirked afterwards at seeing Lee, who after making chunin would out last him in these runs, run out of energy. He knew he had to enjoy it until Lee became use to weights that he wore. Gai had figured out a how to drop the weights even without the orange leg warmers. Though the weights were slightly more noticeable this time around. The team decided to stop by Tenten's family's store to stock up on weapons. After all, their sensei wanted the boys to have more kunai and shuriken and if Neji remembered correctly, it was the best place to buy in Konoha.

"Tenten dear, how did training go today?" Her father was a large man, his brown hair was starting to bald, though he was quite strong for a civilian, as Naruto found out once after being chucked out for bugging the blacksmith for a special kunai one too many times, the man was in his typical get-up of a dirty white smock. He would make a few weapons on his own, for special orders. It had also been one of the few shops that Naruto could have bought decent supplies from, before he started the pranks. While he received the attention he so desperately wanted, he had lost a few more supporters. It had not helped that a few people twisted what he had done into worse.

"Dad, these are my teammates, Neji and Lee, they are here because our sensei thinks they are not carrying enough weapons."

"Hmmm, perhaps I should convince the other teachers that their students need more weapons, do you know the names of them, honey?" Tenten just shook her head at his antics before leading her two teammates to the kunai and shuriken section. It had been a testament to Lee's tiredness that he stayed quiet during the transactions. Neji broke the silence with asking Tenten about how they went about making the weapons. At least for their health, this time they went to a different restaurant. Now hopefully he would be able to escape eating at the ramen stand so often, he could not afford to stunt his growth like Naruto did.

After leaving his teammates, he found himself at the library waiting for Naruto, his eyes closed, but his Byakugan was activated. He smirked at seeing Naruto walking towards him, with a slight bounce in his step. Unlike yesterday it was slower as he noticed his cousin appear, hiding behind one of the posts. He decided not to push her today, after all he would have enough problems with teaching as it was. Hopefully Ayame bought the books for him soon, that way Naruto could work on his own when Neji's team went on the eventual C-missions.

"Hey, Neji!" He rushed up next to him as soon as he saw him. He nodded as both of them walked in. Seeing the librarian glare at Naruto, who returned the gesture, but he stopped abruptly, and jumped slightly upon feeling Neji's hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, we are looking for the section on chakra theory." The glare vanished as the librarian stood up and kindly directed the two. _Hypocrite._ As she walked away, Neji deactivated his Byakugan before finding the book he wanted. "Read this and if you have questions, ask away." Hopefully something not written for a Hyuuga, but instead for a beginning academic student would be better for his "charge". He grabbed a book on elemental chakra theory, perhaps he could find something for help. If kage bushin did not take so much chakra, it would be an avenue he might have wanted to try. Perhaps an elemental clone, though that would require him to figure out his chakra nature. The only way he could find out easily was chakra paper, and Gai would have no reason to have it yet. The one source of chakra paper he knew of would take too much effort to break into, the ANBU office. That would be a quick way for him to get his caged seal activated after being caught.

At least Naruto seemed to understand enough of the book, asking only twice about what he read. The main question will be him understanding it tomorrow, especially since there is not much in the book to help. The third interruption Naruto made was slamming the book shut and quietly walking over to a pink hair girl quietly reading and who had not seen them.

"Hey, Sakura. When you are finished, you want to go on a date with me?" The girl looked up and jumped at the sight of her admirer in a library.

"Naruto, I am not going on a date with you, my heart's only for Sasuke." She stood up and walked out, while leaving the book on the page she was reading. Naruto shoulders' slumped as he walked back over.

"Naruto, how often do you ask her on a date?"

"All the time, I don't see what she sees in Sasuke-" Neji placed his hand on Naruto's arm, stopping his diatribe.

"A little quieter, we do not want to give the librarian a reason to throw us out." He froze while Neji moved his hand back. "Why do you ask her all the time?"

"Because she and the other girls ask Sasuke all the time-"

"Does Sasuke ever say yes?" Naruto shook his head, as he opened his mouth and closed it. "I would suggest not using the same strategy if it continually keeps failing, right? Perhaps you should try to be her friend first. Also, if you wait until you are better, then you can show her that you have improved right?"

"So, you have a lot of experience with this Neji?"

"I have watched enough people and another trick to the Byakugan is it gives the user unparalleled insight into people." He smirked as Naruto grinned before turning back to the book. He remembered when Sakura finally realized that if she did not act soon, she would lose the boy that had been really important to her. Hinata had not been as sad as her family expected, but she always thought that marrying Naruto was a dream. It probably helped at that point she had her cousin and more importantly her father who were proud of her. No matter how much Hiashi looked flustered at telling the truth. Shikamaru and Shino had theorized the reason Naruto had no idea of Hinata's crush was since all he knew of people loving each other was that the person would tell them, and usually quite often.

Neji let Naruto go after two more hours at the library, Naruto walked off, with Hinata yet again following quietly behind him. His interest in seeing if his charge would notice his 'follower' convinced him to follow after the two. As usual, Hinata stayed out of sight of Naruto, and as Neji glanced at a few villagers, only a couple would know the real reason that she followed. A few expected that she was afraid and she did not want to be seen by the 'demon.' Something was off about Naruto, did his advice ruin his mood? He had seemed happier until he walked out of the library. As he was walking the villagers' stares did not change his demeanor.

As the group passed by the academy, Neji noticed one of the youngest students staring at Naruto. Neji stopped as a smirk appeared on his face as he watched little Rin, who obviously has not asked her parents about the boy yet. She had explained to him when she joined ANBU that she had always been fascinated with the student she saw who always talked about being the best. It had helped Naruto's image she never actually saw him in the classroom, otherwise her admiration would not have been as great. Though after starting his pranks was when she finally asked her parents about him and they told her to avoid the troublemaker child. Upon seeing his promotion to Hokage, she decided to honor his audacity by taking the code name Kitsune, which the Rokudaime found hilarious. Unlike Naruto, who was a final year student, ever other class was still in session. The third year students were given a break from classes, mostly to give students from ninja clans time to practice their family justus.

Upon looking back at Naruto, Neji lost his smirk realizing Naruto's reaction to the stares. He might have noticed Hinata staring at him, but he came to the wrong conclusion, she was not thinking the same as the villagers. Shaking his head at the revelation, he walked off and headed back to the clan manor. If he could help Naruto realize that not everyone that was watching him was angry with him, then perhaps he will approach Hinata without prompting.

The next eleven days followed a similar pattern, with training in the morning, which either consisted of endurance training or practicing with their own techniques, which Neji used to re-learned Kaiten while Tenten had been looking into using scrolls for her multitude of weapons, and lastly Lee had started making progress with the Goken style. Occasionally, Gai also had them practice sparring with each other, including the favorite 2 on 1 scenarios, which Neji would have to struggle against his teammates until he perfected Kaiten and Tenten did better alone than Lee. But overall the group was ready for handling multiple opponents. The worst training days were when Gai would have a 'survival' fight against his students. Even with their teamwork improving the longest they could last was ten minutes. Gai stopped pulling punches once, and the battle lasted about thirty seconds before Neji found himself intimate with the ground again. At least when he took it easy, Gai did not leave holes in his fighting style. He knew of teacher who would do that, annoying the Hyuuga to no end. He took the fight to heart, knowing that if the three could not last ten minutes against Gai at full force, then when the chunin exams came around, they could not try to ambush either Kabuto or Orochimaru in the forest of death. Kabuto was his goal, since without him the arena wide genjustu would not happen.

Naruto and he spent most of the time training improving Naruto's reading level. It helped that Ayame was pretty quick at finding books that could help. They spent the time reading at the training grounds. Two days he had Naruto practice his stealth, this time, he allowed Naruto to use henge to hide. The one restriction was he could not attempt to run away when Neji was looking at him. After spending an hour and a half hunting him down the first time, Neji helped Naruto practice manipulating his chakra levels. The second time took Neji the whole day, when he stumbled upon Naruto bolting after he thought he was out of Neji's vision. He had found the way to get Naruto to be able to overhear Danzo. Now he just had to set up the situation right.

The best part was shopping with Naruto went well, after he received the 'Orphan Fund,' which had to be from Jiraiya. After all, there never was an orphan fund, since they would stay at the orphanage until a family was found or until they graduated ninja academy and it was a toad shaped wallet. The fact the initials JTGTS were hidden on the inside had to be him. With his adequate reading level and Neji for support, Naruto could actually save money. The Sandaime must have thought that Naruto spent most of his money on prank materials, not the fact he was overcharged by a quite a few merchants. Two places were told quite coolly after they shopped there that the Hyuugas have found the stores lacking and would not step inside the place again. Naruto added that when he became Hokage, none of the ninja would shop there as well. Afterwards, Naruto had a nice torrent of laughs while Neji smirked at the pale faces of the owners. After finishing shopping, the two ended up at Ichiraku Ramen where Ayame had given Naruto a basic cookbook, much to the 'horror' of her father.

After most recent training with Naruto, Neji returned home. The two evening guards glanced at Neji as he arrived before returning to scanning the area, making sure no one will be able to sneak in. It was doubtful anyone would try, but Neji knew that he might have affected something. The only question on his mind was when Hiashi was going to find out about his training Naruto. Of course it would not surprise him at all if all the branch members would find out before the head of the clan. Upon reaching the dining area for the branch members he noticed they were more animated. As he prepared what he wanted to eat, Nobu added to the ongoing conversation, "If anyone told me the spar would have went that way today, I would have expected Itachi turning himself in to be more likely."

"It was not a spar, but a slaughter. She definitely had something to prove." One of the few branch members with brown hair added. Kazuki turned to Neji, who was inwardly smirking. Though he hoped that Hinata had not really gone overboard. Hanabi was her sister, after all.

"So is Hiashi going to have you fight Hanabi soon? According to Minoru, if Hinata continues to decline like she is, Hiashi will have no choice but to declare Hanabi heir." Neji blinked twice, why was his cousin in danger of becoming a branch member?

"Why would I spar with Hanabi? Did something happen during their spar?"

"Hinata had gotten worse, she lasted less than four minutes and did not even land a glancing blow." Neji held his facial expression frozen as he concentrated on eating. He might have helped Naruto, but Hinata was in a worse situation. Hanabi probably will not convince Hiashi to let him leave and remove the caged-bird seal. He finished dinner as quickly as he could without arousing suspicion, muttering about fate when asked about the sparring. Leaving the table, he walked to the Hyuuga's main dojo, where he hoped to find Minoru and get the complete truth. He smirked upon seeing Minoru standing there, staring at the training dummies.

"Minoru." Neji nodded in respect of the older man. He turned and stared at the new arrival. "How was the spar between the Lady Hinata and Lady Hanabi go?" He attempted to put a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"So Nobu has talked about the result. Remember, Neji, to keep information like this from spreading. It is bad enough that people know of Hinata's failure. We do not need people to think that one of our own may not be able to pass the academy exam." Neji nodded. "Lady Hanabi's victory over Hinata was a disgrace. Her performance has decreased in the last two fights, do not follow in her footsteps Neji." He walked off, leaving the branch member standing there silently. Trying to clear his head, he practiced Jyuuken. _I am being nice to her, pointed out where she was strong, why is she having that much trouble against Hanabi? Did she make one mistake and spiral? If only he would have told me more. I will need to talk to her, but not tonight, she will expect a verbal lashing from anyone in the family._

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_Well, next chapter should be up in about two weeks and it should move the plot along without so much summary. Perhaps I'll get my one-shot idea finished as well. Let me know your opinions and thanks for reading. And yes, I was referencing Negima.


	4. Trying to Catch Danzo in the Act

A/N Sorry about the wait on this again, next one will be about two weeks, unless I'm not too busy with finals. We shall see. Thank you to rose-of-alabaster and apocalypse for the reviews, and thanks to everyone who's favorited and put this on alert.

Disclaimer: Well, I didn't learn any new words in japanese and I still doubt I don't own the series.

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The target was stalking away from her pursuers, the two nearest were about ten feet away, using the tree to get ahead of her. It had taken about an hour and a half to find her. If Lee and Neji had switched routes to check for her, they would have already been finished. Tenten dropped down to the ground silently, making sure not to alert the target. Neji leaped to a tree behind her and crouched on the branch, ready to stop the target if it tried to take to the trees to escape. Lee rushed out after the target, causing her to take off straight at Tenten who was ready and launched toward her. Once in range, her arms wrapped around and restrained the target. "I got her." Lee whopped at the news as Neji joined his teammates while smirking.

"Target has the ribbon on the ear. Unless this is a henged cat we caught Tora." Neji added.

"Don't joke about something like that." Tenten shook her head and made sure to tighten her grip so the cat would stop struggling to escape. "Why do I have a feeling that you are enjoying this mission?"

"Well, we helped to return a pet to its rightful owner, Tenten, sure it took a bit more effort than we wanted to. But we did a good deed." Lee pumped his fist into the air while Tenten sighed. Neji continued on behind the two, the smirk not leaving his face. He would not admit to it out loud, but he enjoyed this mission. It was much better than a couple of ANBU missions. The pay did not make up for having to kill the children, but it had been to take out a family that was attempting to follow in Orochimaru's footsteps. One was a mercy kill, as the child had been experimented on enough to be permanently insane. The worse part was killing the older brother who had no idea about the experiments, according to the information learned from the research notes afterwards. He felt vindicated though when the jyuuken strike hit the father's chest.

"Well, team, I am most pleased with your work today. Your fires are burning brightly." Gai exclaimed as he joined his students.

"Sensei, why exactly are we catching a cat. Was it too difficult for the one of the daimyo's servants to do it?" The one kunoichi of the group shifted the cat so its struggling would not cause her to drop it.

"Excellent question Tenten, the mission might have seemed underwhelming, but it is mostly for training. On this mission you all showed your teamwork in trapping her. Other missions may help with endurance or strength. These missions also help the team be able to afford more supplies for when we take C-ranked missions." Gai ticked off each point on his right hand. He stopped and plastered his favorite smile on his face as he looked up at another ninja passing by on the rooftops. "My eternal rival, come down here and meet my most youthful students!" The man stopped running and hopped down, he covered most of his face with a mask over his nose and the rest of the lower face, with his left eye covered by his headband. He slipped an orange book, one of the Icha Icha series, in one of his jounin vest's pockets. "Tenten, Lee, Neji, this is Hatake Kakashi, my eternal rival and jounin of Konoha. So, we are at 49-48 and its mine turn to pick."

"Ma, don't you have to take your team to complete the mission? I'll see you later." Kakashi waved and vanished in a whirlwind of leaves.

"Ahh, you are so hip, my rival." Gai turned back to his team, where both Tenten and Neji had continued on towards the Hokage Tower. Lee looked around as he noticed that he was being left behind and jogged to catch up.

"Hey, Lee, you seemed to have met him before."

"After the ramen stand, I went to find sensei and he was challenging Kakashi, they played a game of janken." Lee explained to Tenten, while Neji rolled his eyes.

After receiving their pay, the team left the tower, with Gai in the lead. "Congratulations my youthful students on your first successful mission, why don't we celebrate, there is a great sushi restaurant that I wished to try and today would be a great day to do so. It is near the ramen stand that is Neji's favorite restaurant, all of you should be able to find it. I have something to take care of, so I will see you there." Gai brought his hands together for shunshin when Neji placed his hand on Gai's shoulder.

"Gai, I would like to ask you about a new training schedule." He interrupted as he removed his hand, while his teammates stared at the Hyuuga genius.

"Very well. Tenten, Lee, you two go on ahead, Neji will catch up shortly." They nodded and headed to Ichiraku Ramen to start looking from there. Neji activated his Byakugan and making sure no other Hyuuga were around.

Satisfied that no one else was there, he turned to Gai and stated, "Since I have the best control for our team, I was wondering if you had any scrolls on medic justus?" Gai nodded as he stroked his chin.

"I do not have any, but I could get a hold of a couple. So are you thinking about using ninjustu or genjustu as well?"

"Perhaps using an elemental clone might be beneficial with my jyuuken techniques."

"So, you would need to find out what elemental affinity you have, correct?" Gai smiled as he patted Neji's shoulder. "While this is early to test for in your careers, Tenten could use elemental chakra for some of her techniques. Now you better catch up." Neji nodded as he left his sensei and took off to the Ramen Stand, with his teammates probably waiting for him.

Gai joined his students after they had ordered food and the group had a nice relaxing time, he had kept the number of references to flames of youth down to a minimum, much to the relief of Neji and Tenten. The meal was interrupted when another branch member of the Hyuuga walked up.

"Neji, are you finished with your team duties for today?" Turning to his sensei, Gai nodded.

"Yes, am I needed by the main house?" The branch member turned to look behind himself as Hinata crept over to the group sitting at the table.

"Neji, Lady Hinata wishes to go shopping. You will accompany her while she does." The branch member bowed and left Hinata standing there as she started to push her fingers together.

"Sensei, Lee, and Tenten, this is my cousin Hinata." The rest of team seven, which had been dubbed Team Gai by their enthusiastic leader, nodded. "I will see you all later." Neji stood and left with Hinata, as he smirked. Once they left the restaurant, Neji started to walk towards the training field used by him and Naruto. "Hinata, can I ask a favor from you?" His cousin nodded slowly, her eyes avoided meeting his. "I would like to see Naruto spar and I do not believe I will be able to concentrate enough while fighting him. Would you be willing to spar with him, please?" She froze in place as a blush erupted onto her face. Silently standing there, Neji was pleased to notice that she did not faint. Finally escaping her paralysis, Hinata started to push her fingers together as she avoided Neji's stare.

"I a-am sorry, but I w-will not be a g-good enough challenge for N-naruto, B-brother N-neji."

"I disagree. Besides, you are supposed to check up on Naruto's progress, correct? Come, we will be late if we do not continue on." Hinata stopped pushing her fingers together but kept her arms in front of herself, using them as a barrier. "I heard that you sparred again with Lady Hanabi. I heard that your open move had caught Hanabi off-guard." Neji probed.

"B-but, it d-did not work. And M-Minoru instructed afterwards that he had never s-seen a worse performance of jyuuken from a m-main house member."

"Hinata, I am not worried if you defeat Naruto, I just to test him against someone from his class. You do want to spend more time with him correct? Do not worry if you make a mistake while sparring with him, just keep going. I promise I will not tell anyone about it." Her face started to color again and her embarrassment gave Neji the time to finish without worrying that she would interrupt.

"B-but, we a-are not s-supposed to show jyuuken to n-non-Hyuugas." Hinata had lowered her arms, especially since she could read that he was not trying to belittle her.

"Then do not use chakra to hit tenketsu points. I will count the hits you land." Hinata did not respond and he enjoyed the quiet silence, after all, once with Naruto, it would be quite boisterous.

As the two Hyuuga arrived at the training ground, Naruto jumped up from his push-ups and cheered at their arrival. "Oh, Neji, and wait, you're the person with weird eyes in class." Hinata paled at the comment, Neji stared at Naruto, he should have known better.

"Naruto, today you are going to practice taijustu against Hinata here, I will judge." Naruto grin grew even larger.

"Cool, I get to be first to fight her in class, alright, I can't wait, the instructor told us that you're good enough that it would be embarrassing for any of us to fight you." Hinata faced burned a bright red.

"One suggestion, Naruto, do not let her hit you, understand?"

He nodded as he stood in his pitiful stance while Hinata backed up a couple of feet and stood in the traditional jyuuken. Neji dropped his hand as the two combatants charged each other. Naruto threw a right hook at her, which she pulled back from and pushed the arm away. She aimed her other palm at his stomach, though he blocked with his other arm as let himself be pushed back. He launched a kick at her face, she avoided by bending back at the waist. Once his leg was above her, her left hand shot out and slammed into it, knocking him off balanced. She reached out with her other hand but missed as he rolled away. Jumping back, he smiled and declared, "Geez, Hinata, you're good." Before charging at her he swung a left hook at her, forcing her to retreat slightly. He then followed with a leg sweep, which she hopped over; her palm struck out and hit his right arm. After landing, her other arm swung in and pushed him down with a blow to the head. His grin was still plastered on his face as he recovered as he then jumped and kicked at her. She crouched down as the kick flew overhead before driving her arm into his back, causing him to stumble as he landed. He countered by lashing out with a kick that caught her in the stomach. She stumbled back three steps, giving her enough room to avoid any quick strikes from him. Turning back towards her, he jumped and threw a punch at her face, which she sidestepped and slammed another palm into his chest, knocking the breath out of him. His other hand lashed out and collided with her arm, stopping it from clubbing her face. Falling back, he feinted with a punch before chambering a kick and releasing. She hopped back as the blow glanced off her sweatshirt as she once again smacked the leg to put him off balance. However, this time around he was ready and spun around his other foot, which scored a hit on her upper arm and forced her back a few inches. She retaliated with a palm strike to his guard and with her other arm striking his shoulder. Stepping back, he swung back with an uppercut as she ducked back and launched another palm strike that rammed into his stomach. He pushed the arm away as he backed up.

"Enough!" Neji commanded. Hinata stood straight, her cheek tinged with a red.

"Hey! I could I have kept going Neji!" Naruto crossed his arms and harrumphed. "But, you were awesome Hinata, I could barely block your moves, I bet you could easily beat Sasuke!" Her face flushed brightly as she smiled.

"Naruto, you do realize if this had been a real fight, you died at least five times." His jaw dropped as he stared at Hinata, who quickly looked at the ground.

"Hey, Hinata, could you help me at school? I bet you're really good at school as well." He grasped her hand and bent down to look her straight in the eyes. She quickly went pale and collapsed, with Neji having to rush over to stop her from hitting the ground. "Hey, Neji, is she alright? She didn't overexert herself did she?" Looking up at his student, he blinked a few times as he placed her down softly.

"Naruto, you need to remember personal space and to make the point home, it will be two more weeks until we work on taijustu again." Naruto crossed his arms and glared for a few seconds before smiling.

"Can you change that if I can defeat you in one move, Neji?" He nodded as he watched his student, slightly wary. Naruto moved his hands in sequence as a large poof sounded with smoke appearing. Inside the rapidly disappearing smoke was standing a tall, beautiful, girl with her chest and pelvic area still covered in smoke. The girl motioned towards Neji who walked over and chopped at the person's neck, knocking the now reappearing Naruto out.

"Save the technique for one of the perverted males in Konoha, like Jiraiya or Kakashi." Returning to Hinata, he gently shook her awake and stood back as she stirred. She quickly sat up, her face bright red before noticing the unconscious boy lying in front of her. She sat back from him and looked at her cousin. "He attempted to defeat me with one move, I countered." Her eyes went wide as she looked up at him, her fingers pushing against each other.

"You d-did not use J-jyuuken, did you?"

"No, he attempted a modification of a henge. He will wake up soon, shall we go shopping now, Hinata?" She nodded as she let out a breath. "So, are you going to help him with classes?" They both continued on as Hinata watched the road ahead of them. He smirked and left alone the silence between the two.

After shopping for another one of her favorite jackets, in which they had to avoid one shop due to the owner's dislike of Naruto, they returned home. Nobu announced to the two, "Neji, Lord Hyuuga wishes to speak with you immediately, Lady Hinata." Neji nodded and left her as he walked off to Hiashi's office. He stared at the door and waited for the order to come in.

"Enter." He pushed open the door and aimed his gaze at his uncle sitting there working on paperwork, though his attention was also on Neji since his Byakugan was activated. "Explain why you are training the Uzumaki orphan."

"I was ordered to by one of the member of the main family of the Hyuuga." Hiashi brow moved up about a half an inch.

"I assume that Hinata gave you the order then."

"And if she did not?" Neji replied as he kept his stare with his uncle. Hiashi nodded before continuing,

"I see, she ordered you to stay quiet about it, interesting. Then answer me this, why did you accept it? You know that your interaction with him is not good for the clan." Hiashi stated as he stared.

"Simple, to show that fate has determined that a loser cannot break through their ceiling and thus she must accept reality. Fate has preordained his position and thus nothing can change that." He smirked as Hiashi broke the staring contest first, and deactivated his Byakugan. It had been a sign that he was disappointed with his nephew.

"Very well, as long as the help you give the child does not interfere with your training or your clan responsibilities, you may continue with the training."

"Is there anything else, Lord Hyuuga?" Hiashi must have been thinking of explaining about the situation with Neji's father, but had ruthlessly squashed his thought. He waved Neji off as he returned to his work. Bowing, he left his uncle to his work.

Walking out the door, he nodded as he noticed Hinata standing against the wall, pressing her fingers together. She quietly followed Neji as he walked to the dojo, which was empty except for the two. He walked over and started on his jyuuken form, trying to increase the speed of his strikes. He was easily at chunnin level, especially if he implemented the justu he had used as an ANBU. The Rokudaime had passed onto a few of his trusted men Jiraiya's peeking justu. It was not the ultimate sneak technique, but there was no equal to it.

"W-why, did you s-say, what you said to F-father?" Hinata squeaked out, staring at her cousin.

Making sure none of the other members of the clan were around before answering, Neji finished his strike before responding, "Because it is true, Naruto's fate has been set in stone. A loser will not pass their ceiling, however, I never have claimed Naruto to be a loser, have I?" Hinata smiled at her cousin as he smirked back.

"S-so, who would you c-consider a loser?"

"Only those that would give up on themselves could be a loser. Those that keep trying their hardest can never be, no matter what anyone else says." Hinata's cheek tinted a slight pink as she looked to the upper left. "Like I said before, you have the potential to be the best kunoichi in your class. Do not listen to anyone who would say otherwise." He turned back to the training dummy and attempted to work on speeding up his strikes. Hinata walked over to another one and worked on her general form. He stopped earlier than she did, but he walked slightly quicker than usual to branch members dining area.

The only person there was Saki, was one of the two night guards at the gates. Neji learned more about her after he started in ANBU and would sometimes meet Hinata at night due to passing necessary information from the Rokudaime. Her daughter would be about four if he remembered correctly. "Good evening, Neji. I hear that Gai has finally allowed you to take a D-ranked mission."

"You have heard correctly, we were given the mission to retrieve Tora the cat. The mission was successful." She gave him a sympathetic stare before replacing it with the blank mask of a Hyuuga. No one liked rescuing any of the Fire Lord's wife's cats, even Lee did not like giving his genin squad the mission.

"I hear that your teammate cannot use chakra, if I am correct, why is he a ninja?"

"His work ethic is more than satisfactory and his taijustu will adequately complement my jyuuken." She raised an eyebrow as she stared at him.

"That still does not explain why he would be a ninja if he could not use chakra."

"We only use it for our superior taijustu style and the Byakugan. His fighting style is adequate for most enemies, the ones he is not suited for are the ones that I will have to defeat."

"And I also hear that you trained with the Uzumaki brat, are you trying to hide the fact you are sabotaging those that are weak?"

"If they are weak, why would I need to sabotage their efforts, are you trying to imply that the jyuuken is inferior?" She leaned back an inch or two, but the barb had struck well. This should prevent other branch members from questioning his motives for some time. None of the Hyuuga would ever want to be caught claiming that Jyuuken was inferior. The complete form might not be, as he never had a chance to test it against Sasuke, but he would first want to remaster the Juho Soshiken. This was the one technique he could not allow anyone to see. Since he could not claim he learnt by watching since Hiashi will start teaching Hinata when she becomes fifteen. At least if he showed anyone he could explain that he mastered the technique after seeing Hiashi use it. It just has not happened yet in this timeline.

Saki had excused herself as she prepared for her duty, leaving Neji to his thoughts. He could have talked to the Sandaime and convinced him that he was from the future, it would grant him a great boon in making plans, but that it would require secrecy. The two big problems would be removing Danzo, since the proof he had of root reforming would not be concrete enough to implicate him for another two years. Especially since the traitor would not start using some of the tunnels they used until after the chunnin exams. Also the Sandaime was more willing to try diplomacy first, and he also did not have the political strength left to arrest Danzo without more proof than just Neji's words. Besides, one of the two ANBU guarding the Sandaime would report to Danzo about this time traveler. And if Kabuto found out before being caught, he may have to fend him off. And if it came down to a one on one fight, he was not fast enough to beat the spy, yet. The other problem was if the village had better mobilized for the invasion or showed signs of early knowledge of it, Orochimaru would call it off. And they needed to kill him and Kabuto during the chuunin exams. All the Sandaime needed to stop Orochimaru was knowledge of his resurrection technique, both Jiraiya and the Hokage could create a technique that did not require giving up the sandaime's soul. He knew which person was giving information on Orochimaru to Jiraiya and where to drop it off for the toad hermit to find. Though if the timeline followed how it did, he would have sent the messages right before he died. And if he removed Danzo, there would be no chance of the ANBU being called off from following the snake sannin if he tried to escape.

Neji had his own plans for the forest of death, starting with removing both the sound genin and Kabuto's team, permanently. The next plan required help from Naruto and hopefully just his team. Since Naruto can mimic others' chakra signatures with his henge, using kage bushin to pretend to be his team and either receiving a scroll from another team or taking it quickly, Orochimaru would never have a chance in the forest to give Sasuke a bite. The Rokudaime believed that Sasuke would never have betrayed Konoha without the curse seal, and Neji would be fine testing that. And if Sasuke did betray the village, he would take him out, no matter what anyone else said. Sure, Itachi and Orochimaru were 'killed' by him, but the snake sannin failed so he could take a shot at Itachi and Itachi only fought him so he could give his eyes to his brother. And it was probably also to try to turn him against Madara, which did not go so well. The plan had flaws, but as long as Orochimaru did not feel that Naruto was enough of a threat to risk alienating Sasuke by killing his teammate, Naruto will be fine. Leaving his thoughts behind, Neji headed off to sleep, perhaps tomorrow will be the day that they 'catch' Danzo.

As he arrived at the training field, he had been unsurprised to be the last one there. Tenten had been practicing using chakra to guide a kunai into hitting a target after she threw it off course, while Lee was pounding a poor log into sawdust, and their sensei was grinning like a madman. "Welcome, my youthful students, Lee, for your morning workout, I want you to run around Konoha three times. The first one is to be at half-pace." He nodded before jogging away to the gates. Motioning to the two to come closer, Gai pulled out two scrolls and activated the one on the left. The three objects that appeared were three identical jumpsuits, obviously the right size for his students. "I was talking with one of the chunnin, the beautiful flower Kurenai, her skills at team bonding are impressive, and she suggested that our team wear similar outfits, thus everyone should wear the perfectly form-fitting, ultimate training clothes, these training suits." Both of his students stared at him, Neji was about to thoroughly deconstruct why they were bad before Tenten smiled and answered,

"Thank, Gai-sensei, this will be most helpful for training." Neji's jaw dropped enough that both noticed while their teacher smiled. "With how skin tight they are, I can post this somewhere and know for sure when my throws actually hit and not just graze the edges of clothes." Neji smirked as they watched Gai's face fall before he quickly recovered.

"Yes, Tenten's flames of youth are blazing today! I have a new training regiment for you two today. Since both of you could benefit from knowing your chakra nature, I have procured two pieces of chakra paper, take these and channel chakra into them." He handed the papers over as both of them as they pushed chakra into them. Tenten's paper quickly burnt into ashes while Neji's crumpled. "Excellent, Tenten, your chakra nature is fire and Neji's is lightning. To utilize this, Tenten, you will be practicing Fire Shuriken. Neji, I will teach you raiton bushin. Here are the handsigns." After demonstrating the handsigns and Neji giving affirmation of understanding, Gai went to help Tenten with the new technique. Upon Lee's return, Tenten was able to cover one of her shurikens in fire while Neji's bushin would form and dissipate after twenty seconds. All three were then taught how to do tree-climbing. Neji easily beat the two in completing the exercise with Tenten and then Lee following with their teammate's aid. However, Gai had them continuing run up and down the tree. The practice ended when each genin was too tired to continue, with Lee out lasting both of them, much to his "genius rival's" annoyance. After saying farewell to his teammates, he went to meet Naruto for training.

Naruto had to rush to make it to their meeting as he was a few minutes late. "So, sorry, Neji, the food took longer to cook than I thought." As he started taking deep breaths, Neji nodded before explaning,

"Well, you know how quite a few people do not seem to like you? I have noticed how one in particular seemed to have a strange look when he stares at you. He probably knows why."

"So, is my training to get him to tell me about it?"

"Not directly, I doubt he will give you a straight answer about it. Instead I do know where he meets with people today, you are going to work on spying. You will pretend to be practicing our henge exercise. The building is surrounded by apartments and nothing else, amd it is the only one-floor tall building in the area. You want to be henging into the wall on the north side, you might be able to hear him, since he prefers to stand near it. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Neji, too bad we won't be on the same team, huh?"

"You will perform adequately with whatever team you are put with. One last order, if any ANBU tell you to leave, make sure to see which mask the person is wearing and then leave immediately."

"I'll tell them not to let you know I'm there, that way they won't think it is anything else." Neji nodded, closed his eyes, and waved his student off. After waiting five minutes to give him a head start, he 'started' after him. He walked straight to Ichiraku Ramen for something to eat.

"Hello, Neji, where's Naruto?" Ayame raised an eyebrow as she continuing wiping down the table.

"He is practicing his stealth techniques against an active searcher. I assume that he is hungry and will be coming here shortly. Besides I have unable to eat anything since training today. I would like two of the usual." _I had hoped to avoid having a usual so soon, but since they have not added four of the other flavors I like until 3 years from now, there is only one choice._

"So, have the flames of youth been awakened in Lee's eternal rival?" Neji stared at the waitress as she giggled while preparing the food. "Lee came here once to meet your _most youthful pupil_ after one of your practices. Naruto asked him for training tips and Lee gave him one of Gai's jumpsuits, it was orange though." Neji slouched back a couple of inches before narrowing his eyes while she started cracking up laughing. "Wow, Lee was right that you don't like your sensei's style of dress. What's the problem with it?"

"Because the image Naruto will cultivate with it is definitely not the same one Gai has."

"What are you afraid of the suit or something?" Neji raised an eyebrow and stared at her as she attempted to recover her composure. She finally placed the first bowl down, and Naruto joined them as he bolted into the stand before stopping centimeters in front of a seat as Neji grabbed onto the seat to keep it from knocking into the stand. Naruto quietly reported,

"It looks like they don't want me around there, someone threw a couple of kunai at me, I had to drop the henge and run, I think I saw a shuriken that the person threw near me as well. Didn't get to see the mask of the person. You were right, I'm going to try again-"

"Naruto, you might want to plan more and if you do not go back there for a while, they will think you were just hiding from me. That way, they may ignore you if they do see you the next time." He nodded enthusiastically as he put down money for ramen. "Tomorrow we shall work on your kunai and shuriken throwing." Neji returned to his ramen and much to his surprise Naruto stayed quiet during their meal.

After finishing his food, Naruto nodded and walked off to his apartment as Neji noticed that Ayame would be watching him though she would look away when he caught her. "Was there something you wanted to ask, Ayame?" She jumped before turning to look at the only customer at the stand.

"You weren't surprised that Naruto was attacked on your training. Why didn't you tell him or trail him? Were you hoping he would be attacked?" Neji smirked as Ayame glared in response.

"I expected the person to tell him to leave, not attack him. But it is better that he practices dodging now. My main objective is that he can handle himself without aid. If he believes that I will always be there to cover him, his growth will always be stunted. I do appreciate the concern for him, but I must return home, thank you for the meal." With that he nodded, dropped money on the table, and walked back home.

Neji found the next two weeks were pushing his limits, as Gai found him a few things about medic justus, and with the training with the lightning clones, sparing with Lee, reading as much information as he could about the human body, making sure Naruto did not hit the wrong target with shrunkens, and the long and tiring D-ranked missions. The Sandaime knew how to pick them, as most of the missions were time intensive and the Byakugan would not significantly speed them up. He would return to the Hyuuga clan area exhausted.

He felt bad for Lee, three of his lightning clones could bring him down, though usually two would be taken down in the process. At least Lee took it as a measure that he must improve. Gai 'suggested' the night before that his team plan for survival training tomorrow and get enough sleep. Which led to Neji cancelling with Naruto with the promise of convincing his sensei of giving him a lesson on taijustu. He had found himself on the ground having been tackled by his student. It was one of the few things that he tried not to chastise him about. He would latch onto people that would acknowledge him and made sure to hug them often. A cynical side of Neji wondered if he did that to make sure he was not just a figment of his imagination.

As he made it the training field, he found Lee standing there practicing without his weights. Gai had him practice without weights occasionally, that way he would not be completely taken off guard the first time he removed them. Tenten was finishing putting weapons into her scroll. She only had one scroll full of weapons, probably after the first C-ranked mission she would buy a second one to fill up. If she can actually encase all of her weapons with fire then Temari would be receiving a horrible shock during the chunnin exams.

"Ah, my youthful students are preparing themselves for survival training, yosh, the flames are blazing brightly! This was my final test, after completing 10 missions, I know you three are ready for a C-ranked mission." Lee cheered as his teammates smiled and smirked in response.

The group of four walked towards The Hokage Tower while Neji ignored thinking about what the mission was about. If he did not remember it, the odds were against it being more dangerous than it should have been. No matter what the Rokudaime said, just because the two C-ranked missions he went on ended up being A-ranked does not mean all of them will be. He listened intently as Iruka explained to the team that they were to head to the southern part of Fire Country with a small caravan. Bandits have been raiding them there and they were supposed to take them out. The bandits numbered between 5-25. The genin were going to be there to prevent the enemy from getting close to any of the merchants while Gai would take down the enemy. With how the group was set up, Neji figured that Tenten would injure a few, with Lee and him get maybe a couple to fight at best, though this would be his second major hurdle. When he took care of the scum, how would he explain to Gai his lack of reaction to killing. Only heartless bastards could pull that off for the first time, and it was one of the few things that Neji would not claim to be.

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A/N I figured that only techniques that were being created new or having elemental nature added to them would take ridiculous amount of time to learn compared to normal elemental justus. Also this story should probably be considered off canon starting with 450, unless Kishimoto is nice and does something with his next chapter. I hope you enjoy this and any errors or compliments you wish to send me, please leave a review.


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